Sensorless motor drives have been used in a variety of applications, particularly where providing position and/or speed sensors directly at a motor load is difficult or impractical. A typical sensorless system employs a voltage-frequency (V/F), alternatively known as Volts per Hertz (V/Hz), controller providing a voltage setpoint according to a desired motor speed or frequency, and this form of sensorless control has been used primarily with induction motors. In certain applications, however, a step-up transformer is often needed to boost the motor drive output voltage. For instance, a transformer may allow a low-voltage drive to be used to power a medium voltage induction motor, and/or a step-up transformer can be used to reduce I2R losses and allow use of a smaller gauge cable wire for long cable runs between the motor drive and the driven motor. Certain applications also employ sine wave filters, such as LC filters to suppress reflected wave voltage spikes associated with pulse width modulated variable frequency drives. Use of voltage-frequency control techniques, however, may lead to problems, particularly where a transformer and/or sine wave filter is connected between the motor drive in the motor load. For example, voltage-frequency control loops often suffer from variations in uncontrolled drive current, even when the voltage command is constant. Also, saturation of the step-up transformer may lead to significantly increased drive current, without delivering much power to the motor load. Moreover, voltage-frequency control in combination with a sine wave filter under starting conditions may result in the motor not being able to start, with large oscillations on the rotor shaft for low frequency commands. Furthermore, conventional sensorless voltage-frequency drive control has not been largely successful in driving permanent magnet motors when output filters and transformers are employed. Thus, while sensorless control schemes are advantageous due to length of cable runs and avoidance of costs associated with providing feedback directly from the motor, further improvements are needed for sensorless motor drive control, particularly for driving permanent magnet motors.